The Texas attorney general is investigating San Antonio for banning Chick-fil-A from its airport

[Eugene]

Source: CNN

The Texas attorney general is investigating San Antonio for banning Chick-fil-A from its airport

By Michelle Lou and Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN
Updated 1738 GMT (0138 HKT) March 29, 2019

(CNN)The Texas attorney general is investigating whether the city of San Antonio violated Chick-fil-A's religious liberty when it banned the fast food chain from its airport.

Last week, the San Antonio city council approved a new concessions contract for the San Antonio International Airport -- on the condition that Chick-fil-A be excluded.

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton slammed the city's decision as "discriminatory" and "inconsistent with the Constitution and Texas law." He echoed that thought in a tweet substituting waffle fries for the famous cannon in the Gonzales flag used during the Texas Revolution.

Link to tweet

"The Constitution's protection of religious liberty is somehow even better than Chick-fil-A's chicken," Paxton wrote in a Thursday letter to the San Antonio mayor and city council. "Unfortunately, I have serious concerns that both are under assault at the San Antonio airport."

-snip-

Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/29/politics/texas-san-antonio-airport-chick-fil-a-investigation/index.html

[Retrograde]

1. What were the terms for bid proposals?

If the requirements for an airport eating place include being open 7 days a week, then they probably failed to meet that. I give Chik-fil-A props for sticking to its policy of closing on Sundays. Their other policies are something else. And I'm not taking Paxton's word for why they were excluded without further information.

[SharonClark]

2. CF was excluded because of its anti-LGBT activity.

[gratuitous]

3. Chick-fil-A is a restaurant chain; it doesn't have First Amendment rights

Persons have first amendment rights. Corporations don't.

[Retrograde]

5. "corporations are people, my friend"

as Mitt Romney stated. The GOP wants to have it both ways.

[Igel]

6. The Washington Post is a corporation.

It doesn't have first amendment rights.



Somehow, that sounds a lot less convincing, but no less accurate.

Granting incorporated media, whether that's Buzzfeed, the NYT, or MSNBC first amendment rights relies on corporate personhood, in which the individual rights of those who incorporated it and hold shares somehow percolate through to the corporation.

In any event, the argument is that it was barred not because of what CFA did with its money, but what the owners of CFA did with *their* money. The word bandied about over this is "viewpoint discrimination." I have no opinion of that since I haven't time to look up anything about that; I don't even vouch for the accuracy of whether it was CFA or owner who donated the money.

[Initech]

4. Seriously if you really want Chik-Fil-A that badly, don't eat it at an airport.

Because airport food takes a massive hit in the quality inspection department over if you got it at a restaurant.

[haele]

7. That's stupid. It was a business decision.

San Antonio is a seven day a week airport in a city where there's two huge Air Force training, lots of business headquarters, and a major tourist attraction - which means a lot of Sunday traffic at the airport. It isn't very efficient to have one of your major food service providers closed on one of the busiest travel day of the week.
The space is a waste of potential profit basically one day each week. Especially since the airport is attempting to be a more world-class international facility.

There's still a dozen or so Chic fil'es in San Antonio, including one within a mile and a half down the road.

Just because they're religious bigots isn't reason enough. But being bad business is.

Haele

[MichMan]

8. This statement is probably what initiated the investigation

Councilman Roberto Treviño, who made the motion to exclude Chick-fil-A, said San Antonio does not tolerate "anti-LGBTQ behavior."

"With this decision, the City Council reaffirmed the work our city has done to become a champion of equality and inclusion. San Antonio is a city full of compassion, and we do not have room in our public facilities for a business with a legacy of anti-LGBTQ behavior,"
Treviño said in a March 21 statement.

"Everyone has a place here, and everyone should feel welcome when they walk through our airport."